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Thorburn: Former CU Buff John Wooten getting his due

By Ryan Thorburn Buffzone.com

Posted:
10/10/2012 11:07:33 PM MDT

Updated:
10/10/2012 11:08:14 PM MDT

John Wooten.
(
COURTESY UNIVERSITY OF COLO
)

Jon Embree sees the name every day at work.

Colorado's head coach could have picked any of the legendary names associated with the program -- Byron White, Joe Romig, Cliff Branch, Bill McCartney -- to mark his parking spot near the Dal Ward Center.

Embree chose John Wooten.

Thursday night, nearly 54 years after playing his final snap at CU, Wooten's name will once again echo through the Folsom Field loudspeakers.

Wooten, a first-team All-American offensive guard for the Buffs in 1958, will be honored by his alma mater and the National Football Foundation at halftime of CU's game against Arizona State.

On Dec. 4, one day before his 76th birthday, Wooten will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in New York.

In the fall of 1955, Wooten became the second black player to play at CU, arriving from Carlsbad, N.M., a year after Frank Clarke broke the color barrier in Boulder.

"John Wooten is special to me," Embree said. "Obviously, what he did allowed opportunities for more African-American players to come to Colorado, to have success, to have opportunities. ... He's a man of great heart, character and integrity. It couldn't happen to a better person. I was surprised he hadn't already been in there."

Wooten's first varsity game was one to forget as the Buffs opened the 1956 campaign with a 35-0 home loss to Oregon.

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But with Wooten providing what the late CU historian Fred Casotti described as "bone-crunching lead blocks" to open up holes in coach Dal Ward's vintage Single-wing and Wing-T formations, quarterback Boyd Dowler, fullback John Bayuk and halfback Bob Stransky led CU to seven wins and a tie over the next nine regular-season games.

The only other loss was to No. 1 Oklahoma, which rallied for 21 second-half points to beat the Buffs 27-19. However, CU's consolation prize was a sweet one -- a bid to the Orange Bowl. The Buffs made history with the program's first postseason victory, a 27-21 triumph over Clemson.

The more significant story was Clarke and Wooten bravely taking the field in front of 72,552 fans in the deep South with the support of their white CU teammates.

Leading up to the game, the Tigers stated that they didn't want to play the Big Seven representatives if they used black players.

Actually, that's not exactly how they phrased it.

"When Clemson said they wouldn't play us, it was the wording that got to us," Bayuk said in a 'Classic CU' article written by iconic Buffs radio voice Larry Zimmer. "They said, 'We're not going to play with those monkeys.'"

The staff at the Bal Harbor Hotel in Miami wanted Clarke and Wooten to room together on the top floor and use the back entrance.

The Buffs did it their way.

"Miami Beach was still segregated and the hotel personnel plainly stated they didn't want any Negroes coming down there," Wooten told Zimmer in the archived piece on the CU athletic department website. "We stood strong. When we went to Miami Beach, we had our usual roommates, and it was business as usual. And Clemson did show up at the game and we beat them."

During the 1957 season, CU led the nation in rushing (322.4 ypg) and was second in total offense (415.2 ypg).

In 1958, the Buffs were 5-0 and ranked No. 9 in the polls (the program's first appearance in the top 10) after a 27-16 victory over Nebraska.

But Wooten's dream of a senior season was interrupted with a rude awakening as CU lost to Oklahoma, Missouri, Colorado State and Air Force down the stretch.

Wooten was drafted by Cleveland in 1959 and became a dominant pulling guard for Jim Brown. After nine seasons with the Browns, he finished his playing career with the Washington Redskins in 1968.

Seven years after hanging up the cleats, Wooten became the director of pro scouting with the Dallas Cowboys (1975-91). He also worked in the front offices of the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens until his retirement in 2002.

Wooten has continued to help change the face of the sport by serving as the chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance, which works in conjunction with the NFL as it relates to minority hiring for coaching, scouting and front office positions.

CU's first black head coach is well aware of the hardships Clarke, Wooten and other Buffs -- including Bill Harris, Teddy Woods, Ed Coleman, Noble Minton and Al Hollingsworth from the 1961 team, which experienced similar issues at the Orange Bowl -- had to endure.

Pulling in or out of that parking spot certainly puts the current struggle to rebuild the Buffs into perspective.

"When you're a pioneer and you have to go through stuff, you have to be a special person," Embree said. "Because you're going to get a lot of things thrown your way, a lot of things said to you. Especially during that time, you're going to be treated differently and you have to be strong enough as a man to be able to handle that."

As they drive away from Folsom Field after Thursday's game, hopefully a lot more people will remember the name John Wooten.

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